Machchil case: NC welcomes court martial proceedings by Army

Srinagar: Ruling National Conference on Wednesday welcomed the court martial proceedings ordered by Army against six of its men for their alleged involvement in 2010 Machchil fake encounter case that had triggered a two month-long agitation in the Valley.

"It is a welcome step but we strongly feel that the proceedings and the results be made transparent so that there is no scope for any allegation or feeling of a cover up," National Conference leader and political secretary to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Tanvir Sadiq said.
He said "some people" may have brought a bad name but Army is an institution which has brought laurels to the country.

"As such we expect exemplary punishment to the alleged accused officers without any further delay," Sadiq said.
He said the court martial proceedings provide an opportunity to rebuild trust in the institutions which was "seriously damaged" by the incident.

"The way Army is approaching the case, we believe it provides an opportunity to rebuild trust in the institution where the trust has been seriously damaged," he said, adding National Conference feels that it will be a positive development if the court martial proceedings go ahead and the erring personnel are punished.

On April 30, 2010, the Army had claimed that they had killed three infiltrators in the Machchil sector along the Line of Control. It had later claimed that they were Pakistani terrorists.

However, they were later identified as Mohamad Shafi, Shehzad Ahmed and Riyaz Ahmed, all residents of Nadihal in Baramulla district. They were allegedly lured to a border area and shot dead.

Following complaints from relatives of the victims, a Territorial Army jawan and two others were arrested by police but the incident led to unrest in the entire Kashmir Valley and widespread demonstrations in which 123 people were killed.